This sport is sometimes called freestyle skiing or acroski. But when it first formed in the 1960s, it was seen as derivative of ballet. Suzanne Chaffee, an American skiier who won a gold medal for downhill skiing at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, popularized ballet skiing.

It became so popular that it was a demonstration sport at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada and the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France. Performers had 90 seconds to perform to music in front of a panel of judges. Alas, its popularity did not survive and had largely faded away by the 2000s.